Eclectus Mojo Moult: A Picture of Pinfeathers

Mr. Lou is going through the most intense mojo moult of his life right now, coupled also with a hard moult. He has to be beyond uncomfortable, but he’s still our cheerful little Lou!Our handsome boy is not so handsome.

Warning: Graphics of intense Mojo Moult beyond this point!

Louie has what I liked to call “Birdy Zits”–in other words, tons of pin feathers on his face, grouping around his chin and the crown of his head.

When we first brought him home last year, he was deep in the throes of the dreaded Mojo. He looked sort of like a little bald old man with a bad comb over. Observe; The top photo is what he looked like once the moult finished; the bottom two images are the missing feathers along the back of his head:

He has a little of the comb-over affect going on this time, but while the feathers on the back of his head have grown in this time, it’s spread to his face. And cheeks.

And everywhere. He’s also going through a super intense moult (a “hard moult”) at the same time as his Mojo moult. 😦

Oh God. They’re EVERYWHERE.

Lou and I took a shower, and he is a spiky dinosaur bird right now. A hard moult in an eclectus parrot might look a little something like this:

The best thing for him right now is to give him a little extra protein (ekkies usually don’t need much, but he LOVES egg whites, so he’s been getting some of those daily), more of his favorite nutritious foods to make his new feathers extra shiny (celery is GREAT for that!) and daily showers.

Most of these suggestions come from the link above; the one modification I’d make to that awesome eclectus information is this: female eclectus parrots can TOTALLY go through Mojo moults as well. As a three-year volunteer at a local bird store, I have seen this first-hand on several occasions and had it confirmed by both avian experts. It’s a thing.

So there you have it. Spiky dinosaur Louie: a pin cushion.

Has your ekkie gone through a tough Mojo moult, or has one of your flock gone through a super hard moult? Feel free to pingback with pictures!

2 Replies to “Eclectus Mojo Moult: A Picture of Pinfeathers”

Pretty much. With most birds, you’ll just see some pin feathers on top of other new feathers sticking up here and there–if you see bald patches on most birds, it usually means they’re plucking them out from a specific area due to stress, illness, etc.

With eclectus parrots, though, they’ll lose them en masse, leaving patches of skin/down feathers only until new feathers start growing. In other words, it’s highly gross and scares a ton of new eclectus owners. 😀